So my son is a middle schooler, my day off, and the photo challange

I didn't cry the whole time

the applying for the school
the getting accepted
getting the news that the school was moving
filling out mountains of paperwork
that first day of school...dropping him off..seeing him tentatively walking up to the other kids...who all seemed to look 5 years older than my baby LOL
the odd feeling of picking him up where they just let him out and I didn't have to sign him out

no tears about my baby being a middle schooler

But today I am reading over the student handbook, and the contracts...I need to sign the contract and part of it, I need to sign that I am familiar with the handbook, so I am trying to get familiar KWIM?

so what on the handbook did Get me so upset

the legal part, the part where they talk about drugs, and weapons and violence, rape and sexual assault...the part where it says

Additionally, per civil rights afforded to all individuals, students who are pregnant at
(name of school removed) are permitted to remain in regular education classes and participate in
extracurricular activities with non- pregnant students throughout their pregnancy.
After giving birth, they are permitted to return to the same academic and
extracurricular program as before they participated in before they left.

Ok so all the progress I thought I had made over the years I am still that mom who was so terrified to put her kid on the kindergarten bus, that she decided to homeschool him


I will not homeschool, I will not homeschool, I will not homeschool, I will not homeschool, I will not homeschool, I will not homeschool, I will not homeschool.

the photo challenge today is Trees :)

I didn't take them yet, but today is my day off :)
yes my Dh is watching the kids all day, so I am off to find some trees :)

pictures

just a couple pics

I learned how to do textures

I've been afraid to try but it was really easy

my last post LOL

man I am a bid distracted today

a LOT going on

We are waiting for a call form the epilepsy doctor

apparently the blood test showed that they need to increase the dose

then I am going out to luch wiht a friend

dh is watching the kiddos

cool huh?

Well The boy loves his new school

and I can drop him off at 7:30

so i can be back at the bus stop for the girl at 8:20 no problem!!!!!

in the afternoon he gets picked up at 3:00
she gets out at 3:18

we still have o idea when the bus will drop her off, but I am assuming that I will make it :)

it takes 18 minutes without traffic...of course in the morning there is always traffic...and more traffic going back home than to the school .and if your stupid enough to pull into a parking lot at the boy's school expect some delay time because all the other kid's moms are not going to let you back out of the spot ROFL

lesson learned..at least I learned it before the kindergartner starts :)

picking him up was crazy he isn't an elementary kid anymore, middle school just opens the door and lets the floodgates out ROFL
it reminded me of my school when I was a kid on the last day of school ROFL

he of course left his lunch box and thermos at school yeah am I surprised?


Messy, her first day is Monday

we went in for a story time
after a few minutes they decided they are going to need to buy a chair for her.
I was very pleased with the sped teacher talking with her about Messy's goals

financially for at least now we cannot swing the after school homework help thingy for MB
:(

but we are working on tightening up the budget because I think it's going to help us KWIM?


oh one of my fave restaurants is closed

it's probably our fault since we don't go out to eat all that much anymore LOL I actually can't remember the last time we went

you think I am kidding? I am really not it's surprising that as much as I love to cook, I also Love to eat out

not anymore when dinner at McDonald's cost 36 bucks, you decided to cook at home more ROFL

only I would feel guilty because I didn't eat a a restaurant and they closed
LOL

ugh I have to get rolling on Messy's school papers
you would not believe the stack of forms I need to fill out!

well I met the teachers and aids today

the most amazing thing? Messy saw her old teacher there who just happened to be there with her son who is in Kindergarten and Messy of course freaked out because she knows her and sees her in an out of order place....but then she saw her old Aid from preschool, the woman was also there with her daughter and she quietly came up to me and said hi knowing Messy might freak out, but messy turned around and saw her, buried her head in my shoulder for a minute and then popped her head out and smiled at her she stayed there for a bit while I talked and got a little shy when the aide talked to her again, and then she just got comfortable with the idea and was smiling at her and even talked to her a little

this has never happened before

heck if *I* go to her school she freaks out because I am not a school person so this is MAJOR

she loved her classroom

loved the Other room, I'm not sure what they call it, but it's a small classroom for kids with autism apparently there are 4 kids in that class.

I'm worried that she will not do well in the regular classroom but I know she will love the other class

tomorrow I go for a meeting with her team

Gosh good thing Dh took the day off because he was supposed to be away and no way I woudl be able to get a sitter on such short notice


I *THINK* that the insurance company will be covering regular speech therapy since the dr thinks the speech problems are caused by epilepsy not autism...
HOPE
really they should change it so autism is covered how many kids go without therapy because they can't get it covered?

it's just silly

a lot of people get rich in the world of autism and it isn't the schools, and it isn't the parents

The boy starts school tomorrow

he is nervous

No pictures please

About 12 years ago DH and I went to buy a condo on the beach
it was BEAUTIFUL every room had a view it was just what we wanted, it was part of our "well we can't have kids we might as well have fun" plan. it was WAY too expensive, but I was waiting on a promotion and we WANTED it
I remember it was a cold day, we interviewed with the owners and filled out the paper work
and after we went to the beach to soak in the peace that only the ocean can bring on a cold winter day the ocean was PERFECT!

But it was windy and the wind kept whipping the sand in my face
it HURT a whole lotta hurt! So maybe the beach is not always peaceful

a couple days later we learned that another couple beat us to the condo so we didn't get it :(

a couple days after that I trucked my burning itchy painful face to the doctors

Rosacea was the diagnosis some cream, a few changes in lifestyle.. the interesting thing was when we moved to out new apartment that was far away form the ocean we learned that the person who lived there before me had a rosacea newsletter sent to them...so I learned about changing your lifestyle
no more spicy food, no walks on a windy beach, no hot soup or hot coffee, special make-up

I have never had my face bother me as bad at that first outbreak

I even stopped using the cream, maybe the doctor misdiagnosed, I mean she said I was going to have trouble getting PG, and now I have three kids right? I even introduced back some hot coffee, and occasionally A piece of hot chili chocolate.

*sigh*

Friday night Dh brought me home a chocolate chipotle brownie

I ate it and complained about not really being able to taste the peppers but it was heating my face up


well now I have a full blown rosacea outbreak

NOW like 12 years and three kids and a house later NOW it's bothering me

it's just like that first time the itchy, the burning the annoying

ugh
I look like WC Fields

no pictures pleas LOL

the pics

So I learned a few things
I have never been a fan of B&W photography I am a color girl. I'm guessing probably my pics are not good enough to be enjoyed without the distraction of color LOL

I set my camera to monochrome and went into my garden and took some pictures (about a hundred) it was fun but when I got them up on the computer I couldn't help wishing I could see them in color.

Well in DPP you can change the B&W pics to color by clicking standrd style picture I guess the information is saved in the camera.


SOOOO the other thing I learned is that I am still a color girl I didn't get converted into a B&W lover LOL although I have been known to admire OTHER people's Black and whites :)


I might post up the colored versions after I get done with dinner














cherub in the garden


purple flower





Rose of Sharon

Purple cone flower

magenta colored flower, I forget it's name

grapes I can't believe the birds have not eaten them...they are starting to look like raisins


Bee on a butterfly bush

strawberries

another bee, there were a lot of them today



so are you into black and white?
or color?

photography enthusiasts unite!!

I know some people do Friday photo on their blog but mine is different

mine is a challenge

take ten pictures with the same theme and post them on your blog.
it's not a contest it's just fun!
this week is black and white pictures
I don't care if you have a black and white setting, or you do it post production

fun is the key

first I want to talk about my love of photography and it's limitations

I love photography I love taking my camera out into my yard and snapping pictures of flowers or other plant life. I love taking pictures of my kids. I love taking my camera on hikes and to zoos, or in to the streets in the city.
I even love experimenting, I have a light box and various lighting things that I love to play around with. I do not have fancy schmancy equipment I don't have my own backdrops, I have no aspirations to take pictures of other people's kids....I'm not that good, nor do I expect to become that good, I have bad eyes and I am at this time limited to using auto focus because I can't get the diopter settings right. I have new glasses that are the trifocal progressive lenses that I cannot get to work looking through a tiny viewfinder...I'm sure I will get it right at some point but for now I am just sticking to the auto focus yeah I will try my macro from time to time but usually I get a headache LOL
and because of that I have gotten away from my hobby and I MISS IT!


so I am going try to do this challenge once a week
join in if you want but I'm not into the whole "you must follow these rules" things
which is probably why my blog is so quiet LOL


this week black and white I'm going to take my pictures now and will post them later.


Next week trees-leaves...trucks...branches...or animals living in, or even kids climbing on or standing in front of

rules are not important fun is!

messys new teacher

specializes in teaching kids on the spectrum

she got a letter today from the teacher asking her to wear sneakers on the first day of school, and to bring a folder :)

Messy was so excited she put the letter on the fridge and keeps bringing it to me to read to her :)

I cannot WAIT for school to start for her

she has regressed quite a bit in the few weeks she has been out :(


on another note we are almost crib free
Moo has been sleeping in the big girl bed every night, but I still have not taken down the crib :( I need to do that.





on another note MB's school is kind of scary
we went on a tour of the building and it is BIG And I just don't see how they are going to be set up in this new place in a week they have no books ion the library and no desks in the classrooms. the boy is making a map, isn't he cute? I met some of the moms one I know from church, one I know from the homeschool group. his teachers seem nice


oh would you pay 300 dollars a month to have someone help you ADHD kid do his homework?

WOW WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!

I know this is silly, but I am SO SO excited

we found a sandwich that messy will eat!!!!!
and there is not a drop of peanut butter on it!!!!!

it's bologna, american cheese food (I refuse to call it chese) and ketchup

her new school is not peanut free, but I know that at least one of her classmates has a severe peanut allergy, and since she wears EVERYTHING she eats I think it might be best not to send her with PBJs. but I was thinking I would have to do thermos' full of mac and cheese every day whew



this makes lunch for schools SO much easier
now if we can find a way to get some veggies onto that lunch box I will be in heaven LOL

My new Header---mommy brag

My boy took this image I took of his school bus last year
and made it into my new header with PSP

he taught me how to use texture on text which I didn't know you could do
he made it look like crayon or chalk :)


cool huh?

what do you mean no TV?

I really think I am going to call the dish tomorrow and get my satellite service turned off
i got Dh to agree to 6 months No satellite

I really have to do something about my Tv addiction

all the shows I quit watching over the summer are going out of reruns soon and I am afraid I will slip back into my old ways because I really want to know what happened to Horatio Caine

You know that before I had kids I never ever watched TV well not ever, but hardly ever.

yes that was before we got the satellite and Tivo and my coworkers were all shocked I had never seen the show "Friends" LOL

what happened to me?

If the redsox make the world series it will be REALLY hard

we will save 100 bucks a month and I will have Messy's software in No time :)

and I will have the time to start working on building that workout room for us at home :)

can I do it?

Today we tested

how long does it take to get to the school
drop the kid off and be back for the bus for the girl?

18 minute one way--no traffic
we tried two ways
highway - 12.4 miles 18 minutes
back roads - 8 miles 18 minutes

ugh how can I be in two places at once?

I guess it will have to be worked out

maybe I can find a sitter for her bus time???

*sigh*


OMGosh I saw the most amazing thing today

I went out to cook chicken on the grill
I heard a squirrel chirping quite loud so I looked at first I saw nothing and took a step in that direction...well off flies a red tail hawk with a squirrel in his grasp
then he dropped the squirrel and it went thud onto the top of our shed, then rolled onto the ground

WOW those hawks impress me every time I see them

here is a picture I took of him from winter time




no I didn't get a picture of him now..who takes their camera out to cook chicken on the grill?



what the heck I'll throw in my favorite picture of a squirrel from last may

Oh I think the squirrel was fine he got up and disappeared :)

the boy's art

a walk in the wild

By Mapboy

whew that was a lot of pictures!

Do you think pictures with the selective color, or the accent colors are creepy?

Dh made a comment last night but would not elaborate.


"some of those creep me out"

do they creep you out? or do you think it's cool?

I think it's cool, but like I said before It's not like I would take all my pictures like that now
just was fun to joke around with :)

Playing with color

Today someone taught me how to use Accent color feature on my old camera

so I had some fun with the kids in the playground

yes I had this camera for awhile and tried to figure out this feature and I did not

Yes it is the 9 year old who taught me how to do it

anyway it's nto something I would do on a regular basis btu it's fun once in awhile!

what would you do?

I want something
PEC software

well it will make my life easier
it will help my daughter in her communication

it's something I've been planning on buying but there is always some budget emergency
and now we have a big money drain and I am just plain at wits end.

can I wait until next year to buy this program?

the woman at the school has told me about a place I can go borrow a copy of it, bring it home and copy it and bring it back...the place is a public library but not the library in my town, but the library in my district so I can go and take stuff from the library but still...

that is so wrong

but everyone else does it?

but it's wrong
i think I am allowed to bring it home and use it for myself, but NOT copy it

I can't imagine a library allowing this

I've never been tempted to do something like this before.

*sigh*
Dh says to just go and do it

:(

I know people do this stuff all the time, but I don't

It changes everything

it changes the way we get up in the morning
the way we spend our day
go to bed at night
and sleep
the food we buy
and eat
the medicine we buy
and take
the friends we have
or don't
the stores we shop at
the clothes we wear
the car we drive
the landscaping of our yard
our credit score
what we do for recreation
or entertainment
the way we look at everything
who we trust
and who we don't
what we believe in
and what we don't
what we stand up for
who we stand next to
and when we sit
the church we go to
the way we vote
what we draw
or paint
or sculpt
the poems we write
the colors we paint our walls
our weight
our self image
our self worth
and our self esteem
our blood pressure
our stress level
the way we fight
the way we speak
the way we whisper
the way we shout
our hopes
our dreams
our reality
our anger
our passion
our love

all

changed

comedy and tragedy

Last night after the kids went to bed, I was trying to avoid housework I turned on the tv and there was a comedy program on

I posted a whole blog about why I don't think most comedy is funny

read it all back and thoguht
...gee I am getting old, I sound like my grandpa...(since I never had a grandpa, I use the term symbolically)

"young people these days...they don't know real comedy"

"back in the day..they knew how to make you laugh" (seriously remember when all they had to do was smash a watermelon and you thought it was funny?)

I don't want to be a grumpy old lady who hates everything LOL

So I deleted the entry and I turned off the tv and went and got out one of my favorite all time movies that makes me laugh every time "My cousin Vinny" me and my friends used to break out the VCR and have a "My Cousin Vinny" party, for girls night out. So I fired up the home theater and watched it.

hmm ok so I proved a point maybe it's not comedy
maybe I am getting too old to laugh?

*sigh*

anyone know any good jokes?

LOL

on a side note I try not to be too offended by things, but really I think sexual abuse of a child is NOT funny and I think I would still think it not funny if I were not a survivor